To draw a room to “perspective”, means to make a 3D drawing that

looks realistic… the way it would appear if you were

actually standing and looking at the room. It is

called a “rendering”.

To begin, you need a floor plan of the room, drawn

to scale. Measure the room, look at the way the furnishings are laid out,

and decide where you will stand to view this room the best. In this room, it

would be best to stand on the wall with the door.

Doing that, this room is wider than it is deep…14’ wide and 11’ deep. Follow directions for a room that is wider than it is deep.

We’ll stand on this wall

Select paper to draw on. If the ceilings of your room are 8’ tall, you will need a piece of paper at least 8” in one direction. The other dimension of your paper must accommodate the width of the room. We are drawing a room that is 14’ wide. Therefore, the paper we need must be 8” x 14”. The depth of the room will not be a factor in choosing our paper, in a room that is wider than deep.

Step 1: Place your paper in a horizontal position.

Using your ruler and pencil, draw a line near the bottom of your paper that is 14” long… to represent one of the 14’ wide floor lines of your room. Be

precise with your measurements! You may want to stand over the top

of the ruler and look directly down on it. Mark

the line in inches, starting with zero as shown.

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Scale: 1’ on floor plan = 1” on perspective

Using plain paper, not graph paper.

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Step 2: Now that you have the 14’ floor line in place, it is time to add the left wall line. Using a 90 degree square angle, draw a vertical line

up from the floor line. Begin at zero, and number each foot. Our room has 8’ high ceilings, so our wall is 8’ tall, and therefore our

wall line is 8” long.

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Step 3: Finish drawing the rectangle by using your square to put in the right wall and ceiling. Use extra care in making sure all of your

measurements are accurate. Even a hairline error now can result in a measurable error later on as we continue the perspective.

If you have time, you might want

to mark the right wall line in inches… it

would look like the left wall line, marked off from

0 – 8’.

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Step 4: In art class, the next line we’re going to add is called the horizon line. In drawing a room perspective, this line represents “eye level”. You have to

make a decision now… do you want to view this room as if your eyes were at a 5’ level? The lower you place the horizon line below 5’, the more you will be looking UP at the room’s furnishings. The higher you place the horizon room

above 5’, the more you will be looking DOWN on the room’s furnishings.

For this practice perspective, place the horizon line at 5’. The

room you draw will appear the way you see it if your

eyes are 5’ above the floor.

Use a square and measure carefully to draw this line. If you marked the 8’ on the right wall, you will simply

connect the two 5’ markings.

Step 5: To complete this step, you have to make another decision.

Do you want to view the room as if you were

standing clear over by the left wall? ( you won’t see

the mirror over the dresser very well, but you

will see the window treatment)...or clear over by the right wall? (you won’t see the window

treatment very well, but will see the dresser

mirror) ...or standing right in the middle of the

room? (you will see both side walls equally well). For this example, let’s

position ourselves exactly in the middle. X

X

If there are furnishings on the wall you are standing, they will not be shown on your perspective drawing.

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Now that you’ve determined where you are going to stand in the room, locate that X on the floor line of your perspective

drawing. (we were standing 7 foot from the left wall)

X

Now, using your square once again, locate the

spot on the horizon line that is directly above that

X on the floor line.

This new spot is your vanishing point. Mark it

with a simple line.

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Step 6: Connect all four corners to the vanishing point. Use a dotted line for this step, as part of each line will be temporary.

The top dotted lines will represent the ceiling lines of your room when it is drawn to perspective; the bottom dotted lines will represent the

floor lines.

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Step 7: Connect a diagonal line from “eye level on the left wall” TO “the number on the floor line that represents the depth of the room”. Our

practice room is 11’ deep, so we draw from 5’ up on the left wall diagonally down to the 11’ mark on the floor line. Use a solid line.

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Step 8: Where the solid diagonal line crosses the left floor line, draw in the four corners of the back wall. Start where the flashing circle indicates.

Accuracy is really important here! If your measurements have been slightly off before… it will show up now. Make small adjustments as

necessary during this step, trying to get a perfect rectangle.

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Step 9: If you’re getting confused, now is the time to clean up your drawing. Erase the parts of the dotted lines that fall within the back wall rectangle. You can erase the eye level line that crosses the back wall also…but only on the back wall, not entirely. If you put an X on the

bottom floor line, remove it now. BE CAREFUL NOT TO DISTURB THE VANISHING POINT. You will continue to need this marking.

To start the floor grid, connect each number on the floor with the

vanishing point. Draw up TO the back wall rectangle, but not all

the way to the vanishing point itself.

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Step 10: Where the diagonal line (the one shown in green here) crosses each of the floor grid lines, use your square to draw a perfectly horizontal line. Those horizontal lines need to be perpendicular to the

left or right wall lines. Use your eyes! Make sure those lines look straight, are spaced and are drawn evenly.

The little squares that are formed on the floor grid should duplicate the squares on your floor plan. The floor

grid on this perspective drawing

should have 14 squares across and 11 squares going back… duplicating the 11’ x 14’ foot room plan.

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Step 11A: Let’s start with the bed. Look at the floor plan. Use dots to plot the 4 corners of the bed on the floor grid. Those dots are shown here,

enlarged and in red.

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Step 11B: The next step is to put in lines on one or both of the side walls that represent the height of the bed. A bed is approximately 24 inches high, so we’ll put in a height line on the left wall. Draw the height line, starting at the 2’ mark and drawn to the vanishing point. You can stop drawing at the

back wall. It is shown here in a dotted green line.

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Step 11C: Follow each dot for a bed corner along the floor grid line TO the left wall, then follow it UP to the 2’ line, and then back across the room

perpendicular to the left wall line. It is shown here by a red, dotted line. The only line done so far is from the red dots on the grid line that are closest…

not the ones on the back wall line.

1. Dots to the wall

2. Follow the floor grid to the wall, and up to the height line

3. Square off through the height line

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Step 11D: You can now draw the two nearest corners of the bed form. Use your square, and draw the lines perfectly vertical, from each dot

UP to the height line.

Think of the bed as a rectangular form… can you

visualize the end of the bed now, using the floor grid, vertical

uprights, and red dotted top line?

1. Dots to the wall

2. Follow the floor grid to the wall, and up to the height line

3. Square off through the height line

4. Draw the corners vertically up to the new line

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Step 11 E: Now we’ll put in the back side of the bed form. Follow the same steps… “dots to the wall,

wall to the height line, square off through the height line, and then draw the corners up.

On our rectangular bed form,

we’re adding the back wall of the form.

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Step 11 F: Now that you have all four corners of the bed form drawn to the right height, the final step in drawing the bed is to connect the corners. Think carefully about

which lines will “show”, and which ones will not.

Connect the corners; draw all

visible lines and erase all unnecessary

lines and dots

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Step 11G: Add the dresser with mirror. The dresser itself is 30 inches tall. The mirror is 3’ wide x 4’ tall; center it on the 5’ wide dresser by marking it

on the floor grids and drawing straight up to a 6 1/2’ height line.

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Step 11H: Add the nightstand. It is 24 inches tall, like the bed. Because of the angle you are viewing it at, it may appear to be attached to the bed,

even though it has a 6” clearance.

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Step 11 I: Add the window. On the floor plan you can see that it is 5’ wide, but now you have to decide how tall the window actually is. We will draw it 5’ tall… starting 2’ off the floor and ending at the 7’ height line. For this, you may have

to mark the feet on the right hand wall if you have not already done so. To mark the vertical sides of the window, you will work from the floor grids.

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Step 11J: At this point, you may want to add some additional details to improve the appearance of your room. Use your eyes… perhaps adding a frame around the mirror and window, or a headboard on the bed, drawers

on the dresser, blinds or window treatment, or a plant.

11’ x 14’ GUEST BEDROOM by Your Name

Step 11K: Now it’s time to make the final tracing. Trace just the lines you want to keep. Trace the entire floor grid for a tiled floor, or just the lines in one direction for a wood floor as shown here, or none of the grid for

carpeting. Add a title, and your name.

11’ x 14’ GUEST BEDROOM by Your Name

Step 12: Add color by “shading” your picture. Shading is not the same as coloring. When shading, you must first establish a light source, and then

put color only where there would be shadows. If the light source is from the upper right hand corner, then the left side of furniture pieces would be shaded. Shading must be done directionally… following major lines.

When shading,

there will be some areas of the room that remain white and uncolored. Shading is simply a

‘suggestion’ of color.

This completed picture is called a

‘rendering’.

Use the same steps you used for drawing a room perspective to draw a single item or wall arrangement. This is called an

“elevation”, and allows you to show detail better.

Elevation drawings can be used to show the exterior and

landscaping of your home.

11’ x 14’ GUEST BEDROOM by Your Name

Name: ______________________

Due Date: ___________________

You have already been assigned a ranch-style house floor plan. As soon as that is finished, you

are ready to begin this assignment.

1. Select one room (or area of one room) from your ranch-style house floor plan, and use that room for a perspective drawing. Choose carefully, thinking about the dimensions of the room (we’ve only practiced rooms that are wider than they are deep), and where you will stand in the room.

2. A bedroom with just a bed, nightstand(s), and dresser is the easiest room to draw. That choice is certainly acceptable, but if you’re looking for a challenge, try the living room. The greatest challenge is the kitchen. The degree of difficulty will be taken into consideration at grading time.

3. Draw this room to perspective.

4. Shade the room, to finish the rendering.